Pakistan: 'Missing' Indian-Sikh found; to be sent back to India
(Sourced from PTI)
A 24-year-old Sikh pilgrim, who had gone missing in Pakistan during Baisakhi festival celebrations, was found at his Facebook friend's home in Punjab province's Sheikhupura city, about 50km from Lahore. Efforts are on to send him back to India. Amarjit Singh, a resident of Amritsar, had arrived in Pakistan along with other 1,700 Sikh pilgrims to celebrate Baisakhi festival on April 12.
Amarjit Singh's disappearance was only noticed when the Indian pilgrim group prepared to return to India. According to media reports, he will be sent back to India via the Wagah border today. Confirming that Singh had been traced, spokesperson of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Amir Hashmi said that Singh will be handed over to the Indian authorities.
ETPB spokesperson Amir Hashmi said, "Amarjit Singh has been found and will be sent back to India today. Singh on his arrival to Nankana Sahib had left the group to meet his Facebook friend Amir Razzak, in Sheikhupura." "Both Singh and Razzak visited the ETPB office in Lahore and told it that he (Singh) had not gone missing," Hashmi added.
Singh told the board that he thought that he had a one month visa and he would return the country after spending a couple of weeks with his friend here. The ETPB collects passports from the visiting pilgrims and returns them on their departure to their homeland. A source said that Pakistani intelligence agencies have quizzed Singh for "several hours" after he went "missing".
Reportedly after it was established that Singh had not deliberately disappeared and had no links with the Indian intelligence agency, Singh was handed over to the ETPB to be deported to India. According to the investigation by the ETPB, Singh separated himself on April 16 from the visiting Sikh group members on a visit to Gurdwara Janamestan in Nankana Sahib (some 80km from Lahore).
